The black-scaled flood dragon originated from a species of demonic beast in the Boundless Strait known as the black-scaled python.
Such beasts possessed massive bodies, yet their strength was hardly remarkable.
Were it truly formidable, Kun Jiao of the Flood Dragon Gang would never have captured and subdued it in the first place.
The reason it later developed in the direction of the flood dragon clan was that Kun Jiao had nurtured it using secret arts, thereby causing that single dragon horn to sprout.
Even so, its combat prowess had not undergone a qualitative leap. When facing demonic beasts of the same tier, its chances of victory were fifty-fifty at best.
Now, pitted against an Overlord Crab renowned for raw fighting power, it was completely routed.
Dark clouds cloaked the sky as howling winds shrieked across the waters.
Concealed atop the back of the Tianxuan Battle Gull, Luo Chen observed the battle below with keen eyes.
The initial delight in his gaze gradually gave way to solemnity as his divine sense rippled across the surrounding expanse.
"What a lineup..."
Under the sweep of his vast divine sense, countless demon crabs lay hidden in the deep ocean across a radius of hundreds of li.
Even farther away, faint, shadowy silhouettes rose and fell amidst the surging waves.
By this point, how could he fail to understand? The black-scaled flood dragon had been ambushed!
"I was careless.
"Letting the black-scaled flood dragon hunt in the same area for an extended period—how could it not draw attention?
"Especially against a massive demonic beast tribe that bands together!
"In this situation, it is no longer wise for me to intervene lightly."
Clashes between demonic beasts remained within their tolerated bounds.
Yet the moment an outside race stepped in, the entire nature of the conflict would change.
In the Northern Sea today, following the downfall of the Yuan Demon Sect, even if the mighty experts of the demon race occupying the Arctic Yama Heaven had not marched forth en masse, the demons indisputably held the upper hand across the region.
"I'll let this Tier 3 Overlord Crab off for now!"
Murmuring to himself, Luo Chen rationally decided against intervening.
Down below, the grievously wounded black-scaled flood dragon was already gripped by terror.
Watching its scales splinter inch by inch beneath those indestructible, colossal pincers, fear seeped into every corner of its being.
Worse still!
Countless pairs of hostile eyes were glaring at it from every direction.
At this moment, there was truly no way to heaven and no path into the sea... Wait, heaven?
Glancing upward, it spotted a nimble silhouette circling relentlessly beneath the shroud of dark clouds.
Casting aside all dignity, it let out a shrill shriek.
"Tianxuan, save me!"
At that exact instant, the Tianxuan Battle Gull transformed into a gale and swooped down from the heavens.
Its two pairs of enormous wings flapped furiously.
A draft of wind expanded from small to massive, instantly turning into a roaring tornado.
Wherever the tornado swept, a terrifying whirlpool formed with a thunderous roar upon the ocean.
The waters engulfed by this whirlpool happened to be the very battlefield where the black-scaled flood dragon and the Overlord Crab were locked in combat.
Subjected to this external force, both combatants were forced to break off their struggle.
An opening!
The Tianxuan Battle Gull swooped, its talons locking onto the flood dragon's massive frame, as a crisp yet domineering voice rang from its beak.
"Do not resist!"
With a powerful heave, it rode the upward surge of the tornado's vortex and soared into the sky.
A few flaps of its wings later, its figure gradually faded into the horizon.
After they departed—
Boom!
With a deafening crash, a golden behemoth brandishing a pair of cold, ruthless golden pincers forcefully shattered the swirling vortex.
The Overlord Crab emerged from within, glaring ferociously in the direction where the Tianxuan Battle Gull had fled.
Furious roars constantly rumbled from its maw.
With the vortex broken, powerful members of the demon crab tribe hidden in all directions gradually gathered around.
"Lord Jin Ao, why did you let that mongrel dragon escape?"
"As the humans say, releasing a tiger back to its mountain invites endless calamity!"
"There were rumors that this black-scaled flood dragon had helpers, having escaped several sieges by the Qingdi Crab clan. Looking at it now, the rumors were indeed true."
"Letting it slip away this time will make setting an encirclement even harder next time."
Facing the barrage of questioning voices, Jin Ao's tyrannical gaze swept over them.
Wherever his eyes fell, absolute silence followed.
He snorted coldly. "Taking a beating like that from me, that mongrel dragon is either dead or crippled. It won't be moving anytime soon. Besides, its courage must be thoroughly shattered."
Turning his gaze away, he looked toward a distant stretch of the sea where an island possessing the largest landmass in the Xuanyan Sea Domain stood.
"The pressing priority is to storm Xuanyan Island!
"The Xuanyan Turtle Emperor reached the end of its lifespan and set off three hundred years ago for the ancestral grounds of the Sunken Sea to return to the void. Before leaving, it left behind a shed shell for the Ring-Headed Turtle clan.
"As long as we secure that shell, not only can we forge the ultimate battle armor, but it might even allow me to advance to Tier 4! When that time comes, our Overlord clan will become the undisputed rulers of the Xuanyan Sea Domain!
"Jin Jia and the others have besieged Xuanyan Island for several years. Now that I have emerged from seclusion, I shall shatter that turtle island in a single stroke!"
As he spoke, the giant pincers waving before him gleamed with an even colder, sharper edge.
The world knew only that demon crabs ran rampant in the Xuanyan Sea Domain.
Few realized that the true sovereign of this sea was in fact a Ring-Headed Turtle possessing the bloodline of the Profound Turtle.
Even the name of the sea domain had been taken countless years ago from that Ring-Headed Turtle's true name.
***
Tianxuan Island.
Inside the cave dwelling.
Looking at the black-scaled flood dragon curled into a battered, heavily bruised heap, the corners of Luo Chen's mouth twitched.
From a distance earlier, he had not realized that his spirit beast was injured to such an extent.
Had those gruesome wounds been inflicted upon a human cultivator, they would have died a thousand times over.
It was only because the black-scaled flood dragon had originally been a black-scaled python—possessing negligible combat strength, but blessed with immense bulk and vigorous vitality—that it managed to endure.
Even so, this indirectly proved that the Overlord Crab's true cultivation might well exceed the apparent Tier 3 mid-stage.
"Could it be a Tier 3 late-stage Great Demon King?"
Murmuring softly, Luo Chen circulated his medical arts to treat the pitiful flood dragon.
Faced with such horrifying external injuries, ordinary cultivators would truly have been helpless and could only let it recover through rest.
Fortunately, back when Luo Chen's cultivation was low, he had practiced numerous medical arts, mastering all of them to Great Perfection.
Now, unleashing them with full vigor, streams of healing arts fell like gentle rain.
Organs restored and bones reset; necrotic flesh excised and bleeding stanched.
Spring winds transformed into rain, healing flesh and knitting skin.
Combined with the healing medicines he had brought along, the black-scaled flood dragon was gradually pulled out of danger.
However, because its body was simply too immense, this treatment occupied Luo Chen for a full ten days. After all, he could no longer use Five Elements medical arts as freely as in his earlier years and could only cast a few before mana conversion.
Ten days later.
Looking at the pitiful black-scaled flood dragon, Luo Chen's heart softened slightly, a rare occurrence.
"Seeing as you've worked so hard over this past year, here, these are your reward."
With that, several crystalline pellets landed before the black-scaled flood dragon.
At the sight of these items, the flood dragon's eyes lit up.
Demon cores!
And all of them were Tier 2 demon cores.
Normally, it could only eat scraps, mostly internal organs.
To think that after suffering such heavy injuries, its master would actually bestow precious demon cores upon it!
Ordinary demon beasts struggled to digest the cores of other species, but the black-scaled python clan was different.
Such massive size and boundless vitality stemmed precisely from their extraordinary digestive ability.
Never mind demon cores—even boulders and giant logs could be partially digested when they had nothing else to eat.
Its former master had been far too stingy.
The Tier 2 demon beasts it hunted had all been pocketed by Kun Jiao, leaving it not a shred of benefit.
Under this new master, it had still been driven like a slave.
It had believed that its entire life would be spent in such misery.
Who would have guessed this master had a generous side as well!
"Thank you for the reward, Master!"
The black-scaled flood dragon spoke in a fawning tone.
"With these demon cores, my foundation will surely not regress. This little one will nurse its wounds well and hunt even more demon crabs for Master!"
Luo Chen shook his head. The black-scaled flood dragon would be of no help to him in the short term.
Fortunately, they had hunted plenty of demon crabs earlier, and many had yet to be refined into Black Emperor Paste, so there was no rush.
Moreover, he still had the Tianxuan Battle Gull at his disposal.
With her ability to come and go like the wind, capturing lower-tier demon crabs would be an easy task.
Just as he was about to dismiss the black-scaled flood dragon to recover, a thought suddenly crossed Luo Chen's mind.
Foundation?
Abruptly, a jade bottle appeared in his hand, fluid sloshing within.
"Take this and give it a try."
Puzzled, the black-scaled flood dragon took the bottle with mixed feelings and cracked it open slightly to look inside.
The liquid within gurgled softly, sparkling like starlight.
"What is this?"
"Emperor Flowing Liquid."
***
Giving the Emperor Flowing Liquid to the black-scaled flood dragon had been an impulse born of Luo Chen's fleeting curiosity.
Emperor Flowing Liquid was originally the ideal spirit medicine for demon beasts to build their foundations!
Otherwise, it would never have caught Youquan's eye.
Back at Mount Cangwu, Luo Chen had refined large quantities of Emperor Flowing Liquid, even pushing his proficiency to Great Perfection.
Although most of it had been handed over to Youquan, he had kept a portion for himself.
Furthermore, its quality was exceptionally high—all of it supreme-grade!
He wanted to see what kind of effect this supreme-grade Emperor Flowing Liquid would produce on the black-scaled flood dragon, a beast of abysmal aptitude, bloated and clumsy, capable only of eating and drinking.
Of course, this was merely a casual move.
If it produced results, splendid; if not, the loss was negligible.
Luo Chen's attention remained focused on his own cultivation.
Large batches of Tier 3 Black Emperor Paste were refined and stored into black jars one after another.
Even with his daily consumption, his reserves continued to grow.
The Tianxuan Battle Gull could no longer live a carefree life either; she was forced to take over the black-scaled flood dragon's duties, capturing Tier 2 demon crabs for Luo Chen.
Naturally, having learned from the black-scaled flood dragon's ordeal, Luo Chen grew far more cautious.
Each time the Tianxuan Battle Gull flew out to hunt, he reminded her to exercise extreme caution.
Even if she encountered enemies, she was not to lead them back to their lair.
To that end, he even had Han Zhan craft a small device capable of instant triggering, which he instructed Tianxuan to carry at all times.
***
Time flew like a white steed passing a crevice, days and months flowing by.
Before anyone realized it, five years had passed since Luo Chen's arrival in the Xuanyan Sea Domain.
Over these past few years, through the close cooperation of the black-scaled flood dragon and the Tianxuan Battle Gull, a steady stream of fresh, living demon crabs had been procured for him.
In terms of sheer numbers, there were well over a thousand!
Throughout this process, the two beasts encountered countless perils.
The ambush by the Overlord Crab clan was merely one of them.
Once, while attempting to capture a Tier 2 Red Rock Crab for Luo Chen, the black-scaled flood dragon accidentally provoked an entire clan of Red Rock Crabs out basking in the sun.
When it barely managed to flee back that time, its whole body was bright red, looking as though it had been steamed through.
Luo Chen had expended immense effort to heal it.
Matters were hardly peaceful on the Tianxuan Battle Gull's side either.
Knowing that Luo Chen favored the tender meat of Demonic Spider Crabs, she kept a lookout for their tracks whenever she hunted.
Yet that species was exceedingly treacherous.
The silk they spat was extraordinarily resilient; even the swift-footed Tianxuan Battle Gull could barely break free once ensnared.
Had the black-scaled flood dragon not risked its life to pin down a Tier 3 Demonic Spider Crab out of gratitude for its earlier rescue—holding out until Luo Chen arrived to save the day—Tianxuan would likely have perished beneath the beast's razor-sharp claws.
That dangers cropped up so frequently over these years was entirely foreseeable.
With Tier 2 demon crabs being captured on such a massive scale, how could the major royal crab clans remain indifferent?
Especially when Luo Chen demanded only living specimens!
This gave the Tier 3 powerhouses among the royal crabs ample time to react.
So long as the prey held out long enough, reinforcements from their clan's experts would arrive.
Thus, Luo Chen's two spirit beasts found themselves repeatedly imperiled.
Yet even so, they threw themselves into the task without hesitation, tirelessly hunting as many demon beasts as possible for Luo Chen.
The reason lay in the Emperor Flowing Liquid!
Over the course of four years, after consuming Emperor Flowing Liquid several times, the black-scaled flood dragon underwent a transformation!
Not only did its cultivation stage advance, but it also inexplicably comprehended a demonic art.
Once unleashed, a tremendous suction force was generated across a radius of a hundred li.
Even Luo Chen found that terrifying pull exceptionally difficult to resist if he was within ten li of it.
Beneath that monstrous suction, nothing could escape being devoured.
The moment anything was swallowed into the black-scaled flood dragon's body, it would be refined by the virulent acid within, turning into fuel for its cultivation.
Regarding this art, Han Zhan offered an explanation.
"A bloodline inheritance!"
The black-scaled flood dragon's ancestry was unknown, and the black-scaled python was a rather ordinary species that had mixed with countless divergent bloodlines over eons of propagation.
Precisely because its bloodline was impure, it was exceedingly difficult for such beasts to awaken a true demonic bloodline inheritance.
When Kun Jiao used his secret arts to transform the black-scaled python into a Tier 3 flood dragon, he had merely stimulated a faint trace of flood dragon bloodline within it.
Yet that trace was simply too faint to cause a qualitative leap.
And yet, under Luo Chen's generous supply of supreme-grade Emperor Flowing Liquid, the black-scaled flood dragon had excavated a different inheritance from its bloodline.
Evidently, if utilized properly, this Devouring demonic art would grant the black-scaled flood dragon limitless future potential!
Following this transformation, the flood dragon began exerting itself wholeheartedly for Luo Chen, never again whining of hardship or injustice.
Though the proud Tianxuan Battle Gull said little, she worked considerably harder, hoping Luo Chen would bestow more supreme-grade Emperor Flowing Liquid upon her.
Alas!
Having exhausted his reserves, Luo Chen was practically out of options.
The primary ingredient of Emperor Flowing Liquid was manageable—requiring only the complete flesh, blood, and bones of a Tier 2 demon beast.
It was the seemingly unimportant auxiliary ingredients that proved to be the bottleneck.
Luo Chen did not possess enough of those supplementary ingredients in his storage ring; after refining two furnaces of supreme-grade Emperor Flowing Liquid later on, his stock was completely depleted.
Furthermore!
His current focus was not on nurturing two spirit beasts.
After dismissing the black-scaled flood dragon—who had once again gazed at him with eager, longing eyes—Luo Chen activated the cave dwelling's formation, sealing the inside from the outside world.
Swallowing one of his few remaining supreme-grade True Flame Pills, he began circulating the Heavenly Phoenix Nirvana Scripture.
As spiritual energy was continuously swallowed into his physique, a magnificent aura gradually burgeoned forth.
Had the grand formation not suppressed it, it would have enveloped an area of a hundred li.
Outside the formation, Han Zhan, who was commanding over a thousand Tier 2 demon souls and two Tier 2 ghost kings within the Ten Thousand Soul Array, instinctively glanced in this direction.
"Signs of advancement!
"Although this journey was intended for body cultivation, through persistent daily accumulation, his qi refinement cultivation has finally been pushed step by step to the fourth layer of Core Formation!
"This Luo Chen's tenacity of character is exceedingly rare, even throughout my entire lifetime of cultivation."
Just as Han Zhan sighed in admiration, his mind suddenly stirred.
Reaching out with a beckoning gesture, a dull, lifeless little imp flew before him.
"Huh, my sound-transmitting imp has perished. Has Tianxuan run into trouble?"
He glanced toward Luo Chen's chamber. In the end, after leaving behind a voice transmission talisman, he steered the Ten Thousand Soul Banner and flew away from Tianxuan Island.
Clearly, over these years of companionship, though Luo Chen rarely spoke of it, he held some affection for the two spirit beasts. What was more, they bore the vital responsibility of hunting for him.
If possible, Han Zhan still needed to preserve them.
A patch of dark cloud sped southward.
Chapter 544